Accessed: 04.10.2019
The data collection process was organized by UCDC Director, Natalia Nizova, and M&E Department Head, Igor Kuzin, and implemented by M&E specialists from oblast AIDS Centers: Zhanna Antonenko, Oksana Gorbachuk, Volodymyr Zahorovskyi (Kiev City); Anna Lopatenko, Irina Kozina, I...ryna Chukhalova, (Dnipropetrovsk); Galina Vysotskaja, Iryna Petrovska, Oleksandr Guzieiev (Mykolayiv). Qualitative data collection as well as a desk review was done by the WB’s local consultants Anna Shapoval, Olesia Trofymenko, Anna Pisotska and Elena Dzyuba.
The report was prepared by a World Bank Task Team led by Iris Semini (seconded to the World Bank until July 2013, and now back with UNAIDS), and concluded by Emiko Masaki and Marelize Görgens (World Bank), with support and guidance provided by Daniel Dulitzky, Paolo Belli, Alejandro Cedeno, Alona Goroshko and Lombe Kasonde. Administrative support was provided by Anna Goodman, Mario Mendez and Uma Balasubramanian. When draft results were ready, an in-country workshop was held where stakeholders provided their inputs. Once a draft report was produced, written comments were received from World Bank colleagues, Son Nam Nguyen, Rosemary Sunkutu and Alona Goroshko.
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In Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, 3 million children have been born into horrific violence that has escalated since March 2015.
Calling for the needs of Yemen’s children to be prioritized, UNICEF’s “Born into War” report reminds involved parties of their legal obligations t...o protect children during conflict—delivering a wake-up call backed by sobering statistics.
5,000 children have been killed or injured in the violence; over 11 million require humanitarian assistance. With the collapse of basic services, schools are closing and disease is spreading. Children under 5 account for a quarter of suspected cholera and acute watery diarrhea cases, which have afflicted over 1 million people.
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An Economist Intelligence Unit briefing paper | The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) undertook a study aimed at assessing the degree of commitment of 15 countries within the AsiaPacific region to integrating those with mental illness into their communities. The research was commissioned and funded... by Janssen Asia Pacific, a division of Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd. This report focuses on the results of this benchmarking study, called the Asia-Pacific Mental Health Integration Index. Drawing on lessons from the EIU’s 2014 European Mental Health Integration Index, this edition index compares the level of effort in each of the countries on indicators associated with integrating individuals suffering from mental illness into society. Data for the Index was collected between March and May 2016. The set of 18 indicators were grouped into four categories.
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Gender-based violence, including rape is a problem throughout the world, occurring in every society, country and region. Refugees and internally displaced people are particularly at risk of this violation during every phase of an emergency situation. The systematic use of sexual violence as a method... of warfare is well documented and constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law.
The Arabic Version can be downloaded here: http://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/guidelines-health-staff-caring-gender-based-violence-survivors-including
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The waves of yellow fever transmission in the Region of the Americas in 2016–2018 involved the largest number of human and epizootic cases to be reported in several decades. Yellow fever is a serious viral hemorrhagic disease that poses a challenge for health professionals. It requires early recog...nition of signs and symptoms, which are often nonspecific, and it can mimic other acute febrile syndromes. Early detection of suspected or confirmed cases, monitoring of vital signs, life support measures, and treatment of acute kidney failure continue to be the recommended strategies for case management. This report is the result of discussions among experienced specialists in the Americas on the clinical management of yellow fever patients, especially during outbreaks and epidemics, in the context of current medical and scientific evidence and taking into account the technical guidelines already available in the countries of the Region. It includes flowcharts for initially addressing patients with clinical suspicion of yellow fever and proposes a minimum package of laboratory tests that may be useful in contexts where resources are limited. In addition, it considers aspects of health system organization for dealing with yellow fever outbreaks and epidemics.
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Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancers, and other non-communicable diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries, and The Lancet Taskforce recently made the case for investing in non-...communicable disease prevention. Now, in The Lancet Planetary Health, Benjamin Bowe and colleagues report that exposure to PM2·5 air pollution is indeed a risk factor for diabetes.
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Curr Opin Pharmacol . 2022 Apr;63:102203.doi: 10.1016/j.coph.2022.102203. Epub 2022 Feb 11.
The COVID-19 pandemic has widespread economic and social effects on Latin America (LA) and the Caribbean (CA). This region, which has a high prevalence of chronic diseases, has been one of the most affected... during the pandemic. Multiple symptoms and comorbidities are related to distinct COVID-19 outcomes. However, there has been no explanation as to why different patients present with different arrays of clinical presentations. Studies report that similar to comorbidities, each country in LA and the CA has its own particular health issues.
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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety are both prevalent in trauma-related populations. However, comorbidity of these 2 psychiatric disorders has not been investigated in flood survivors. This study aimed to estimate the extent to which PTSD and anxiety co-occur in flood survivors, and i...dentify shared risk factors for PTSD only and comorbidity of PTSD and anxiety. Individuals who experienced Dongting Lake flood in 1998 were enrolled in this study using stratified and systematic random sampling method. Information on social support, personality traits, PTSD, and anxiety was collected using self-report questionnaires. The intensity of exposure to the flood was measured by some questions. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with PTSD only and comorbidity of PTSD and anxiety
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This technical guidance aims to provide guidelines to laboratories and relevant stakeholders in the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) and other countries in the WHO European region in making decisions on establishing sequencing capacities and capabilities, in making decisions on whic...h technologies to use and/or in deciding on the role of sequencing for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, research, outbreak investigations and surveillance. It addresses the most used sequencing technologies and their applications and proposes a central standardisation process to analyse and report the findings of SARS-CoV-2 genetic characterisations.
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The 2021 COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) for AFR serves as a regional guide for a holistic public health response to COVID‑19 at regional, national and sub-national levels. The 2021
SPRP:
1. Builds upon the lessons learnt from the implementation of the 2020 SPRP and outl...ines a regional preparedness, response and recovery strategy for COVID‑19.
2. Has been adapted to reflect the Regional context including COVID-19 vaccination. It also considers epidemiological changes and recommen-dations emerging from the evaluation report of the 2020 SPRP4.
3. Highlights to Member States strategic preparedness and response actions to be sustained at national and sub-national levels, as well as the critical inter-agency and partner support required.
4. provides the indicative resource requirements to reinforce WHO planned interventions in the African Region to enhance countries’ capacities to suppress transmission, save lives and mitigate the impact of the pandemic on people and health systems.
5. Provides a road map for mitigating potential resurgence in the Region as economies reopen and ensure country level continuity of other essential health services.
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During the pandemic, Brazil has provided its citizens with support in the areas of long-term care and disability, the labor market, social assistance, education, and pensions. This report focuses on two social policy areas, health-care and family benefits (including labor policies), as these were th...e most crucial social policies implemented in Brazil during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of the resources allocated and the magnitude of social impact. Brazil’s relatively generous social policies were uncoordinated with public health interventions, which contributed to poor compliance with these public health interventions. This suggests that social policy initiatives alone are insufficient in mitigating the social consequences of the pandemic. They need to be accompanied by and coordinated with public health measures, including regulations on testing, social distancing and mask wearing.
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Every day in 2020, approximately 800 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth - meaning that a woman dies around every two minutes.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.1 is to reduce maternal mortality to less than 70 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births by ...2030.
The United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (MMEIG) – comprising WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Bank Group and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (UNDESA/Population Division) has collaborated with external technical experts on a new round of estimates covering 2000 to 2020. The estimates represent the most up to date, internationally-comparable MMEIG estimates of maternal mortality, using refined input data and methods from previous rounds.
The report presents internationally comparable global, regional and country-level estimates and trends for maternal mortality between 2000 and 2020.
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Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a category of chronic, disabling, and at times disfiguring diseases and conditions that occur most commonly in the setting of extreme poverty. Historically, NTDs have received less attention and funding when compared to other diseases occurring in the same regi...ons of the world. Several NTDs have internationally agreed upon targets for their control, elimination, and eradication. Nineteen countries in the WHO African Region have successfully eliminated at least one NTD, however recent gap analyses identified moderate to severe gaps across technical, strategy and service delivery, and enabling factors. This report summarizes the findings of a scoping review of published literature undertaken to highlight control, elimination, and eradication efforts towards NTDs across the WHO African Region over the last 30 years.
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Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a growing public health problem in Ghana and other African countries. Strokes and other CVDs have become a leading cause of death due to increasing risk factors such as hypertension. According to the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD), ischaemic heart disease was... the fourth leading cause of death in Ghana in 2016. The prevalence of hyper-
tension, a major risk factor for CVDs, is increasing rapidly and ranges from 19% to 48%, according to the Ghana Health Service Annual Report, 2017, due to rising life expectancy and the increasing prevalence of contributing factors such as overweight/obesity. Early diagnosis and adequate management of the risk factors can reduce the fatal consequences of CVDs.
At the heart of improving risk assessment and management of CVDs are nationally approved guidelines, which facilitate standardisation of care approaches.
These guidelines developed by experts from all levels of health care and stakeholders capture all recommended approaches and necessary information for clinicians and other healthcare workers on CVDs. They also serve as a practical guide for assessing and managing the most important CVDs prevalent in Ghana and can be used at all levels of care namely health facilities without a doctor; with a general practitioner and with a physician specialist.
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Top 10 hungriest countries contribute just 0.08% of global CO2.
-Climate & Food Vulnerability Index shows 10 most food insecure countries emit less than half a tonne of CO2 per person
-Burundi is the world's most food insecure and smallest per capita emitter
-The average Briton gener...ates as much CO2 as 212 Burundians
-IPCC blockers Russia, USA and Saudi some of the worst offenders
As scientists of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meet in Geneva this week to publish their Special Report on Climate Change and Land (August 8), a new report by the development charity Christian Aid shows that climate change is having a disproportionate impact on the food systems of the country’s least responsible for causing the climate crisis.
The IPCC is expected to show how climate change will affect global food supply, spiking prices and reducing nutrition. It is also likely to recommend that countries will need to drastically cut emissions if global food security is to be protected.
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Background: Several studies have demonstrated that South African children and adolescents are
exposed to high levels of violent trauma with a significant proportion developing PTSD, however,
limited resources make it difficult to accurately identify traumatized children.
Conclusions: Our result...s indicate that trauma exposure and PTSD are prevalent in South African
youth and if appropriate cut-offs are used, self-report scales may be useful screening tools for
PTSD.
Annals of General Psychiatry 2005, 4:2doi:10.1186/1744-859X-4-2
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Cities can help nations achieve their Paris Agreement commitment by supporting the implementation of transformational actions to increase the supply of renewable energy, improve building energy efficiency, increase access to affordable, low carbon transport options, and change consumption patterns. ...
Seventy per cent of C40 cities report that they are already experiencing the impacts of climate change. Cities need to adapt and improve their resilience to climate hazards that may impact them, both in the short-term and in future climate change scenarios. Cities are already leading the way with ambitious plans to accelerate action on climate change. With more political will, community support and collaboration, cities can make an even greater contribution to securing a climate safe future.
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Many vaccines and drugs hold the promise of reducing mortality and morbidity among pregnant women and infants living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, sufficient information on the safety of drugs and vaccines in pregnant women is rarely available at the time of product licensure... or approval. To account for this, active safety surveillance efforts are needed during the post-licensure and post-approval
phase to assess the safety of drugs and vaccines in pregnant women and their offspring. Pregnancy exposure registries (PER) are used to monitor the safety of vaccines and drugs. PERs are observational studies that systematically collect health information on exposure to medical products such as drugs and vaccines during pregnancy. This review demonstrates that a number of resources presently exist in LMICs that perform active safety surveillance in pregnant populations. These results indicate such systems employ a wide variety of approaches, each with their own set of strengths and challenges, as summarized in the final section of the report.
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This guide can be used to train medical officers to ensure BP is measured for all adults visiting the OPD, treat all patients with high BP, initiate treatment as per protocol, counsel patients for follow-up, refer patients to local care, and report data.
The "Stories from the field" document by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean shares effective strategies from the Eastern Mediterranean Region for addressing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health challenges, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights regio...nal success stories in mitigating NCDs and mental health conditions through innovative, country-specific interventions. The report emphasizes multisectoral collaboration, community engagement, and resilience in public health responses. It aims to inspire further action and knowledge-sharing to enhance health outcomes in challenging settings across the region.
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